The Secret of the Three
by garon604
Summary: A Gemstone. A Tear. A Quill. A Slushie. What kind of magic is this?
1. Blue Amber

Svolbard the Golden Aisha hurried up the steps of Edna's Tower in the Haunted Woods. She knew that time was ticking: if she didn't get to Edna's room in the next twenty seconds, her quest was over…

Gasping and spluttering, the Aisha made a mental note to herself to exercise as she increased her grip on the items Edna had asked for: a bar of Kougra Shining Soap, a plate of the Stuff, and a now-melting Raspberry Brucicle. Svolbard did not know how the witch would manage to make the 'Spell of Usul Engorgement' with the ingredients she had asked for, but if Svolbard might get a chance of getting the pesky avatar, it was worth her while.

When Svolbard was only about a dozen steps away from the door that led to the tower room, she tripped over a stair. All of the items tumbled out of her arms and rolled back down the stairs as a clock on the wall told her that she only had five seconds left to do her quest.

Panting, she stamped her feet on the ground and rushed down the stairway to retrieve the items. At least she cold re-sell them to get some of the Neopoints back…

As she reached the first of the items (the plate of the Stuff), a hidden door opened on the wall as the clock chimed 11:43:57 PM NST: her quest was now over. However, her employer came out of the doorway and looked down at her soapy, slippery, raspberry-blue staircase, her eyes widened with some sort of mad delight.

"You're just in time!" she proclaimed. Edna the Witch pulled a wand out of the long folds of her black robes and cast a spell that pulled all of the items towards her. They jumped into a mixing bowl and with another spell from the Zafara, they had become a blue, jello-like substance which was releasing bubbles into the air that hummed before popping.

"But – but I don't understand…" said Svolbard, severely confused. "I'm five seconds late! And what are you doing not on your tower room, anyway?"

Edna looked around, shushed the Aisha, and then pulled her into the room. It was a long hallway which lead to what looked like one of the towers visible from the outside. The witched pulled Svolbard to the strange room and pushed her into a chair that was directly connected to the wall. The ceiling was apparently made of some sort of stained glass which moonlight could easily shine through, tinting the room with a green shade. On the walls there were glass cases with almost every single item she had ever received from a quest inside them. In the center of the room there sat a large cauldron on a pedestal. It appeared to be the same colour as the concoction sitting in the mixing bowl Edna was now carrying, though it was hard to tell with the green tint that came from the ceiling.

"Finally, after years of spellwork… I can finally make the potion!"

Edna now seemed to be slightly mad, and cackled as she poured the contents of the bowl into the cauldron. Steam began to rise from it in spirals, and there was a loud explosion. As Svolbard coughed, rooted to the mysterious chair on the wall, the Zafara witch walked up to the cauldron and waved her wand above it.

"In the last witching hour of the Aisha Comet's passing of Neopia,

I, Edna the Witch, command Amber!"

After she recited the spell, she dropped three golden stones into the cauldron. It bubbled and steamed now more violently than before, and there was a blinding flash of golden-blue light before everything became still once more.

The cauldron was now completely devoid of the mysterious blue liquid. Edna reached towards the bottom of it and drew out three brilliantly-blue, glowing stones. They resembled the stones that she had thrown into the potion after she had cast her spell.

"Svolbard, I thank you. I have spent the last decade ordering pets to get me blue, slippery, and jelly-like items for this spell." She extended her arm and there, the Aisha saw one of the blue stones. "Take this. It is Blue Amber, and if you bring it to the top of Terror Mountain and cast a wish with all your heart, it will come true."

Svolbard was then pushed out of the tower a few seconds later clutching the gemstone and 135 NP.

Giving the boat driver 135 NP, she stepped off of the dingy craft and on to Happy Valley Dock. As it was midnight, nobody was still left out on the streets. A light snow fell from the dark, moon-less sky but Svolbard was not cold; she had experienced much more intense temperatures than this.

Edna had said that she was to take the Blue Amber to the very peak of the mountain, and that was what she had to do. She walked to the ski lift, but it had closed because of the late hour. It looked like she was going to have to venture through the Ice Caves.

It took another half-hour to reach the entrance of the Ice Caves. It was perched on a ridge that overlooked the town. Looking disdainfully at the Red Korbat that was eternally in flight above the Snow Wars building, she fantasized about how nice it would be to have wings so that she could just simply fly to the top of the mountain. Without a backwards glance, Svolbard turned and walked into the Ice Caves.

There was a lot more activity inside the Caves than there was in the Valley. Restockers flooded out of the Ice Crystal Shop eagerly glancing at the shelves every five seconds while various pets and owners dashed from the Snowager's Cave, screaming past some people scratching away at scratchcards with their fingers and toes crossed. Carefully avoiding notice, she avoided a Snowball that accidentally flew from the top of the Ice Arena and came out at the very top of Terror Mountain.

Her first thought was to take it to Taelia the Snow Faerie: being a mystical, flying, intelligent creature, she might actually know something about the mysterious stone sitting in Svolbard's inventory. However, as she gazed at the Igloo from the ground, a good deal of tape saying CLOSED FOR RENOVATIONS was wrapped around the building. The Aisha could see why: it had completely collapsed and seemed to be on fire, though she could not tell exactly what was happening.

The Aisha realized that she only had one other alternative for mysterious items such as the Amber, and that was a shop specializing in selling mysterious items: the Shop of Mysteries. Svolbard set off for it in the now-heavy snow, putting on a scarf and hugging herself for warmth.

Upon arrival at the shop, the Aisha was about to knock on the heavy wooden door before it was opened on the inside by a rather angry-looking Kiko that was dressed like he was painted Christmas.

"I never get anything good from that Fyora-foresaken shop…" he muttered, zipping up his coat. A stream of curses flew from his direction as he floated away, making for the Snowy Foods Shop for a refresher.

Now feeling rather anxious, Svolbard stepped over the threshold and into the shop. There was not a lot of room inside. The walls were lined with small blue pouches with yellow question marks on them and a price tag hanging from the rope that was keeping them closed. The shopkeeper, a Red Ixi dressed for Happy Valley and not for the peak of Terror Mountain, was standing behind a counter sipping Hot Chocolate.

"Welcome to the Shop of Mysteries," she said, putting the scalding cup of cocoa down. "I am Tarla. How may I help you today?"

Svolbard stepped up to the counter and bent down, indicating the Ixi to do the same. "I was on an Edna Quest, and instead of giving me gross-out Spooky Foods she…" The Aisha paused, hesitant. "She… she gave me this!"

And she took out the Blue Amber from her pack and placed it on the counter.

Tarla the Ixi shop-owner was quickly intrigued. She opened a drawer behind the counter and took out a large magnifying glass, one that was similar to what neo-archeologists used in Tyrannia. Carefully examining the strange stone, she performed a series of tests on it such as striking it with a hammer and scratching it on paper before returning it to Svolbard with a sigh.

"I've always been a collector of rare objects," Tarla said, putting away her equipment. "That is one of the most interesting items I've seen in years. It seems to have the power to grant wishes, but only on the peak of this mountain. It also seems to have… evil qualities that go along with it."

Svolbard was slightly surprised. "Evil properties?"

"Yes… it seems as if the only spell that can create this thing has been performed incorrectly. Did you say it came from Edna? She, in her haste to finish it before the last witching hour began, probably forgot a minor detail, as she usually does. Nevertheless, this can grant your one heart's desire, and I suggest you use it before the hour's end so that your wish will be granted as fruitful as possible. I suggest you try going behind old Donny the Repairman's shop, for the highest peak of Terror Mountain on the other side of Neopia resides there. Hurry! You have no time to waste!"

Svolbard was quickly pushed out of the shop. Running as fast she could in the knee-deep snow, she managed to reach the peak with less than a minute to spare.

The Aisha spent several moments thinking about what she wanted most. Neopoints? An owner? A cute Petpet?

Finally she settled on it: a family. A nice, Neopian family.

Holding it to her heart, she wished inside her mind. She wished that she could have a loving, middle-classed owner and two other siblings: a brother and a sister. She wished that she had a cute, adorable petpet that wasn't simply given to her to age for avatars. She wished… she wished for love.

As the clock struck one o' clock, there was a blinding flash of blue, and there she was, being lead out of a cage in the pound by a Pink Uni. Svolbard tore off her scarf in the intense heat of the building, and soon met a kind, smiling-faced owner with flowing locks of blonde hair and a beautiful smile.

The Uni smiled at the Aisha. "Svolbard, this is ginger23456, or Ginger, and she will be your new owner!"

"Hello Svolbard," said Ginger with a smile. "Meet your new siblings."

A female Acara and a blue Bruce stepped out from behind the girl. "This is Miyoka," she said, indicating towards the Acara, "And the Bruce is Pompey."

"H – Hello…' stammered Svolbard. She didn't know what it was like to have a family, but the walls of lonesomeness falling away from her heart indicated that she must have been feeling the feeling that all families were supposed to feel.

"And meet your new Petpet!" Ginger added, pulling out a Carmariller, a Faerie butterfly-like Petpet, from behind her back. "You can name it anything you want!"

"Thank you – thank you so much!" said Svolbard, rushing up to hug Ginger and her two new siblings. Finally, for the first time in her life, she felt safe. She felt like she was home.

However, on the peak of Terror Mountain, a piece of blue amber, shining radiantly, was swept up by the sudden gale that had spontaneously picked up at the top of the mountain. It flew into the air and was carried for miles, and eventually landed in a clump of woods on a strange, tear-shaped island off the coast of Krawk Island…


	2. The Ballad of the Tears

The waves crashed against the sandy shores of the island. The strangely saltier-than-normal water swept across the face of an Island Acara lying on the beach, who was just beginning to stir. Slowly opening her eyes, Miyoka groaned and sat up. She looked across her surroundings rather doubtfully. The sand on the beach was a strange teal-like colour, and the water was a murky green. Strange trees grew towards the center of the island; their leaves seemed to droop down like teardrops, as if all the trees were crying. Lying a few feet away from the Acara was her best friend Liyon, a Skunk Acara who was also just beginning to wake.

'Where are we?' asked Miyoka, rubbing her eyes. The sun was bright and shining, and there wasn't a single cloud in the crisp blue sky.

'I don't know,' replied Liyon, now standing up with her friend. 'I can't seem to remember anything at all!'

Miyoka was mystified; now that she tried to think about what they had been doing, she couldn't either. There was something strange in her pocket; pulling it out the Acara discovered a beautifully carved wooden flute made from the finest elms and the most expensive type of crystal for the finger holes. She didn't know why in the world she had it, but she pocketed it once more.

'Well, I suppose we might as well look around and explore,' said Miyoka, looking towards a gap between the strange trees. 'How else are we going to get off this island?'

And so, the Island and Skunk Acaras brushed the sand off themselves and headed for a path made out of the strange coloured sand. Looking through the trees towards the shore surrounding the rest of the island, they assumed that the island was a perfect circle. Ahead, they could hear strange splashing noises, so they ran down the path.

In the dead center of the island, there was a small, shallow, perfectly circular pool about the size of the Turmaculus's stomach. In the very center of the small body of water there was a statue of a beautiful Maraquan Aisha, its hair flying out from her head as if she had received a static bolt and then became the statue. Its eyes were hollow, and water was flowing from them, as if it were crying. Around its realistically carved neck was a beautiful pendant, as bright blue as the sky and as large as Miyoka's fist. It was evidently a -

'Oh my goodness!' said Liyon, stepping into the pool. The water level only reached her ankles, and before Miyoka could stop her friend she had already reached the Stone Aisha and had placed a paw upon the Thyora's Tear.

Suddenly, the sky darkened, and the wind rose into a sudden shriek. The waters of the small pool had risen to form an impenetrable but transparent column around it, so that no one could enter. Miyoka screamed, but could only watch as the walls of water slowly surrounded Liyon. There was a great flash of light, a loud splash of water, and Liyon was gone.

Miyoka sank to the sandy ground, astonished at what had just happened. She bowed her head and closed her eyes, and thought, 'Please let this all go away, please let this all go away...'

She sat there for what felt like hours, but it was truly only minutes. She didn't notice that the clouds had disappeared from the sky, nor did she notice that the wind had settled back to a normal, gentle breeze. However, she did notice as a wet something placed a hand on her back.

She looked up, blinking tears out of her eyes. There was the Maraquan Aisha statue, but it didn't look like stone anymore; on the contrary it looked as if it were a real Aisha - as if it was alive!

'Hello, stranger,' said the Aisha. Miyoka had expected something like a hiss or even a growl, but she was proved wrong; her voice was a strangely pure note, like music, that filled the air. 'I am Latiniyana. What is your name?' She talked as if she had always been an Aisha, and they had just met at NeoSchool.

'I'm - I'm Miyoka,' said Miyoka, rather cautiously. She wanted to ask, 'What are you?' but she refrained from doing so and asked, 'Who are you, exactly?'

'My Aisha tribe has lived on this Island, Teardrop Island, for centuries,' said Latiniyana. 'We were always peaceful and enjoyed life to its fullest, never once going into more of the populated areas. However, our existence was disturbed when a beautiful gemstone dropped from the sky, and our hearts were filled with greed. It transformed us, until we are now only just a shadow of our old selves. The Gemstone was unlike any other; it had amazing healing and defensive powers, and it controlled us until we became spirits; non-living, heartless guardians destined to keep the stone safe.'

Miyoka was stunned after hearing this. 'That's - that's horrible!' she stammered. 'But why were you turned to stone?'

Latiniyana turned her head sadly. 'I tried to overcome the stone's evil grip on all of us, so late at night I took the stone and attempted to destroy it. However, the elders found me, and by using dark new powers acquired from the gem they turned me to stone and placed me in an enchanted pool, and hung the stone around my neck. When ever anyone, out of the greed of the heart, attempted to take the stone from my neck they would be taken by the guardians, and...'

She broke off, real tears now streaming from her eyes. The Acara could only presume that whatever would happen to Liyon, it would not be good. 'Listen, my friend Liyon -'

'I know about your Acara friend,' the Aisha said, cutting off Miyoka. 'There is but only one way to get her back, but it is difficult...'

'I'll do it!' replied Miyoka, with a fierce look in her eye. 'She's my best friend! I don't know how in the world we got on to this island, but if I have to spend my days here for the rest of my life then I might as well have someone else with me!'

Latiniyana smiled. 'Well, come with me!'

And with that, she turned around and dived right into the pool. Miyoka hesitated for a second: the pool was so shallow, she'd hit her head on the bottom. Nevertheless, she trusted the Aisha, and dived in after her.

To her great amazement, the pool wasn't actually that shallow. Opening her eyes, she could see that it was about the size of the entire island and about that deep. A great mountain with loomed in the almost-clear water, its summit, where Latiniyana was as a statue, was completely flat as if it had been chopped off. The shadow of the Aisha was near the base of the mountain, where there was a small opening. Diving down, she cut through the water like a knife through hot butter.

It only took seconds to reach the bottom, where there was a litter of strange shells that all looked like teardrops. Now that she looked up, the opening into the mountain was actually larger than she had presumed.

'The inside of the mountain is hollow,' said Latiniyana, gesturing towards the cave. 'It is also completely dry and is a prime factor to what we must do in order to rescue your friend Liyon.'

Gesturing towards Miyoka, she swam into the mountain. The Acara followed close behind.

Inside, there was an unnatural glow that lit up the walls; they appeared to be made of coral, changing in colour from pink to orange to yellow and to all sorts of different colours as they swam. When they reached what looked like the Heart of the Mountain, Latiniyana got on to a floating, round, gigantic piece of stone extremely gracefully for someone with no legs. Miyoka followed suite, looking around. They were in what appeared to be an interior of a sponge; little holes lined the walls, some the size of potholes on the road and others the size of a mouth. Water gushed out of them, crashing down upon the little ring of water that surrounded the small stone island they were standing on. Another large hole on the opposite of the entrance led off into darkness, just like one right above them.

'This is the Rainbow Chamber of Infinity Mountain,' she said, her voice echoing off the walls. 'There are other chambers, but this is the largest and most mandatory one. As you can hear, sound echoes through little holes in the walls and goes outside, fading into the water...'

Latiniyana hesitated for a moment, but went on. 'There is an ancient song that has been passed down in our tribe for centuries. When the stone came it drove it right out of everyone's minds, for this song, entitled the Ballad of the Tears, is a song about joy and happiness, but when greed and envy filled all the hearts of the Aishas it was forgotten...'

And the Maraquan Aisha, looking a little sad, opened her mouth and began to sing. It was an unearthly sound that filled all the room, and what she sang was in a strange, ancient language that was like water, but it was evidently describing sadness, though it was yet happy at the same time.

When Latiniyana closed her mouth, it was like the fading of a chime; something appeared to be missing.

'I seem... to have forgotten it...' Latiniyana said sadly, bowing her head. 'In order to get back your friend, we must fill the hearts of my fellow Aishas with love, joy, happiness, and kindness once more, and the song is the only thing powerful enough to break the spell.'

'Well, how can you remember it?' asked the Acara sympathetically. She didn't want to annoy Latiniyana; she was the only hope for Liyon.

'Only powerful magic can restore the song's contents to its original form...' began Latiniyana. 'The power of music!'

'Music... music...' The word echoed inside Miyoka's head. Then, she suddenly remembered.

'My flute!' She hastily pulled out the instrument from her pocket, now realizing what a stick of wood with holes could do. 'What if I played my flute to the rhythm of the song?'

Latiniyana's eyes seem to ignite like a fire; she didn't know whether it was from intense happiness at something good or evil, because her face was basically unreadable. 'I think that just may restore the Ballad to its original form! Quick, play this...'

She opened her mouth wide and let out four magnificent notes. Miyoka blew into her flute, putting her fingers over he holes and changing the sound each time, so that they matched what Latiniyana sang. When they reached the part where the song had been cut off earlier, the Aisha just kept going, as if she had remembered the words.

As they played, the walls of the cavern began to glow with a strange phosphorescent light. The colours shimmered and reflected off the ring of water, and water began to gush harder than ever from the little holes.

When they reached the last note, instead of the noise fading away like ripples from a stone thrown into a pond as Miyoka had expected, it was as if the music had become sound, air, and water all at the same time; it was an indescribable feeling.

The two Neopets were at peace for a moment when an unearthly sound suddenly filled the entire Chamber. Strange, non-transparent, colourless shadows swept from every single opening in the room except for the top. When Miyoka squinted to get a better look, she realized that they were all Aishas: their eyes were bloodshot as if they had often cried, and a look of greed was permanently etched upon their faces. Water gushed from their strangely solid bodies, though they could still float through walls.

'These must be those - those spirit guardians of ultimate evil and greed you were talking about!' said Miyoka, her voice shivering in fear.

'You are correct,' said Latiniyana. 'Now that we have driven them from the Deep, we must ascend into the Light Chamber. They cannot harm us there.'

She pointed upwards, where a curious light had begun shining down on both of them. Without warning, the light shimmered and changed to fast moving golden (not THAT type of golden!) water that gushed upwards, along the hole.

'Well, come along,' said the Aisha, beckoning towards Miyoka. 'The current is fast enough to pull us up into the next Chamber.'

The stepped into the water, and with a flash of golden light she was gone. Cautiously remembering about the seemingly-shallow pool, Miyoka half-heartedly followed.

It was like filling your lungs with water and then getting stuffed in a tube that steadily grew narrower and then wider. When Miyoka thought she would pass out from lack of air, she was on land again. Spluttering, she took a quick glance at her surroundings.

The walls were a solid sheet of shimmering gold that strangely did not blind her eyes, even though a small ray of sunlight came in from a small hole in the ceiling. The room was cone-shaped, and Miyoka guessed that they were at the top of the mountain. The strange pillar of water they had come through, which now seemed like a geyser, suddenly shut up through the hole of sunlight, explaining how the water had come through the Aisha's eyes when she had been a statue. A healthy amount of light still streamed through the opening.

'Only those that are not yet a guardian can enter the Light Chamber, for there is too much light here,' explained Latiniyana. 'We should be safe here... along with your friend.'

Miyoka twisted around as fast as someone had put wheels on her feet, and ran to a shadowy, wispy figure sitting in the corner before she even blinked twice.

'Liyon! LIYON!' she screamed, shaking the lifeless body of the Skunk Acara. 'Liyon, wake up, WAKE UP!' Her face was a deathly pale, and her breathing seemed to be fading.

'She won't wake; she is in an enchanted sleep because of her great deed of greed,' said Latiniyana. 'It is lucky that she only touched the Stone; if she tried to take it off from my neck she would instantly become a spirit guardian.'

'Well, won't that song thing help her?' shouted Miyoka in desperation.

'We can try... but I'm not sure if it will work,' said Latiniyana, and she instantly began singing, quickly joined by Miyoka. When the Ballad of the Tears was finished, Liyon looked slightly better; her breathing became normal and colour returned to her cheeks, but she still hadn't woken.

'We must get her out of Infinity Mountain, and quickly,' said the Maraquan Aisha, a note of urgency in her voice. 'The only way we can get out by not meeting the spirits is through the light in that hole...'

Her voice seemed to fade away and waver for a small moment, but it returned back to normal. 'However, we have to stop the flow of water being controlled by the spirits...'

Miyoka looked at Liyon and then at the hole, and an idea struck her. With a big heave, she lifted up the Acara and threw it directly at the water.

'What in the name of Fyora do you think you're doing?' shouted Latiniyana, but she calmed almost instantly; instead of floating down back towards the Rainbow Chamber, she had merely blocked the water. Some strange, angry noises issued from underneath their feet.

'It worked!' exclaimed Miyoka. She ran towards her friend, but before she could the sunlight that was protruding from the hole and bathing her friend turned into a shade of lemonade-pink. Astonished, she watched as a glowing, transparent pink ring appeared, levitating oddly above Liyon.

'But no... could it be?' The Aisha was obviously amazed at the strange circle. 'The Platform of the Sun?'

She leapt on to the platform, inspecting it. There was an odd design on it: there was a glimmering sun that filled the entire Platform, and from its eyes it gushed crudely drawn tears which flew in all sorts of different directions. Miyoka, curious, asked Latiniyana, 'What is this?'

'This is the Platform of the Sun, created by light and happiness,' said Latiniyana, tears now forming in her eyes. 'We must perform the Ballad of the Tears upon it, and with great haste. Quickly!'

The performed the song yet again, and the three Neopets began to glow; the Acaras pink but the Aisha grey. They were slowly rising, and Miyoka looked Latiniyana: she was turning back to stone! She tried to get to her, but she couldn't move, and with a loud PANG she found herself with Liyon standing beside her, stirring, on the edge of the pool in the center of the Island. Once again, there was a statue of a Maraquan Aisha, with a beautiful blue pendant around its neck.

'Miyoka!' came a voice from behind, and the Acara twisted around at the sound of her name. There was Liyon, sitting up, rubbing her head and brushing back her hair with her paw. 'Miyoka... what happened? All I remember was a Thyora's Tear around - Miyoka, what's wrong? What are you doing?'

Miyoka had splashed into the pool. The water only reached her ankles as she ran up to the Latiniyana frozen in time.

'Latiniyana!' she shrieked, shaking the statue. It did not move, but started to gush water from its hollow eyes once more. She quickly got out her flute and shouted to Liyon, 'Sing along to this!'

Controlled by the power of music, Liyon sang the Ballad of the Tears while Miyoka played it. When they finished, Miyoka ignored Liyon's questions and looked at Latiniyana. Nothing had changed, except that the gemstone was glowing a magnificent blue.

'Oh, this is all your fault!' said Miyoka to the stone. 'None of this could've ever happened if you had never come here!'

And wiping away her tears so that they fell into the pool, she reached out and ripped the stone from Latiniyana's stone neck.

The gushing sound of rising water and strong winds erupted around Miyoka, and she fell to her knees, but when she looked up she saw that no water column had appeared, and that Latiniyana had come alive once more.

'Miyoka! You must run as fast as you can! The sea! You must go to the ocean!'

And with that, the Acara grabbed the other Acara's hand and darted through the forest path, back the way they came. They reached the shoreline, where the strange coloured sand and water were, and when she got to the ocean she threw the stone, with all her might, right into the ocean. It landed a good deal away from the beach, and with a loud SPLASH and a strange gurgling noise, the water began to froth and bubble. The stone did not float back to the surface, and sank, with a strange clunking sound, all the way to the bottom.

Instantly, the odd, screeching noise that they hard heard from the Rainbow Chamber emitted from the forest, and large shapes emerged from the trees. They were not the spirit guardians from Infinity Mountain, but more like zombies; they were solid and petrified a person so that they stood motionless at the sound of their screeches, so that they could move in...

'The Ballad of the Tears!' came a voice from the ocean, and Miyoka emerged from the waters; apparently she had ran another direction into the sea and had swam all the way to the other side of the round island to find Miyoka. 'Quickly!'

And with that, all three of them began playing the song; Liyon and Latiniyana sang as hard as they could as the flute played with an unnatural force. When they finished, the last note was fuller than ever, and the strange zombies had stopped advancing towards the threesome. To the contrary, they had stopped doing anything at all, except float into the air and glow with strange, golden light.

At that moment, Miyoka felt a strange fatigue overtake her, and she fainted to the beach and knew no more...

'Miyoka! MIYOKA! You're missing band practice!'

The Island Acara awoke, rubbing her eyes. 'Ugh, what happened? I seem to remember... something about tears...'

'What are you talking about?' asked Liyon. They were right on the shores of Mystery Island. The calm, blue waves splashed against the sand, which was a glorious, sparkling yellow. 'You fell asleep on the beach, didn't you?'

'Well... I think that's what happened, yeah,' said Miyoka. 'Is it time for band already?'

'We're already late, thank goodness I decided to quickly see if I could find anything worthwhile on the beach before heading off back to school... come on, we'll go together!'

'Okay then... but boy do I have a song for the conductor!' Miyoka said, and laughing she played the Ballad of the Tears on her flute while Liyon sang along to a song by the 2 Gallon Hatz.

Neither of them noticed a sparkling, magnificent blue gemstone lying, half-hidden, in the sand under where Miyoka had been lying on the beach.


	3. The Thieves of Terror

A fierce storm raged on the other side of the windows that belonged to the dark jeweler shop. If you were to brave the fierce blizzard and peek in through the windows that were captioned with 'Ice Cave's Finest Pearls', you would see an almost completely-square building made out of hard concrete with gigantic icicles sticking out through the walls. Some of the top halves of the icicles were chopped off so that they looked like rows and rows of shelves. Various sized glass cubes contained extremely enchanting pieces of jewelry that glimmered on the shelves, many of them glittering like the snow outside the windows. Things like Steel Earrings were on sale for about 5,000 NP, but some other things such as golden necklaces studded with a diamond-plated sapphire were on sale for over 25,000 NP.

In the very heart of the store was a gigantic pyramid icicle, with some parts hollowed out from the inside so that anyone could see what was inside. It was evident why these items seemed to be on special display. There were some very eerie objects inside, including a ring topped with a gigantic amethyst which glowed a phosphorescent green and a levitating bracelet with pearls of every colour and were swirling on the inside.

However, these items wouldn't even catch anyone's interests compared to what was on sale in the top-most cabinet of the center icicle. Inside, connected to a small metal pole and chained down with various locks with thrown away keys, was a Thyora's Tear of gigantic proportions. Sometimes, it began to glow, rise into the air as if it was trying to escape, but because of the chains attached to the pole, it fell back reluctantly.

This Thyora's Tear was no ordinary weapon; the jeweler, a rather pompous Kacheek who lived an extremely wealthy life, had found it on the sands of the Mystery Island beach during his vacation there. He was sure that nobody had simply lost it, as anyone who had such a rare item would keep it locked away in their Safety Deposit Box instead of carrying it around to go swimming. After double-checking the price with Jhudiah the Island Faerie and her Trading Post, he was sure that this Thyora Tear was worth millions compared to the other Tears; perhaps even more than 10,000,000 NP!

With the thought of ten million neopoints worth of apple pies, he went back to his jewelry shop in the Ice Caves and placed the Tear carefully into its proper display case. Many hagglers had come, but he rejected them all, as his asking price was clear and not one single person had enough to buy the Tear. One extremely mysterious figure dressed all in purple with what looked like wings under her cloak had visited the shop, but he was forced to turn her down also as she was missing about two million neopoints.

Now, about two months later, he had gone to visit a relative in Tyrannia and left the highest security measures around his shop, not wanting to risk his special Thyora's Tear. Obviously, there had to be a band of thieves who were just itching to steal away the Tear: the honour they could bring for themselves was nothing compared to the blizzard.

During the storm, they stealthily opened an air vent on the roof, and being as careful and quiet as possible, they made sure that none of the frigid air snuck into the building by setting up large shields from their walls around the opening.

One by one, they snuck down; about 5 or 6 total. These thieves were not like the blundering ones of the Lost Desert, because they excelled in speed and could steal half your asparagus from your hand in the blink of an eye, with you never being able to see where it went. All of them were dressed completely in navy blue silk that covered their entire bodies and wore nothing else but a large, thick cloak regardless of the cold.

Slowly, they lowered themselves into a designated landing area of the shop which wouldn't set off one of the two alarms which the jeweler had planted around the air vent. When all of them were in the shop, they quietly snuck to the cabinet in the middle, and one of them took out a small Cobrall Dagger with a key at the tip and tapped it against the glass. It shrank away almost immediately, as if some kind of a lock had been unlocked.

'Quickly, now,' said what appeared to be the leader. She had long, silk-like hair that fell down to her waist and twinkling, topaz-gold eyes. The Starry Ixi tried to not look at the last thief, who was rather clumsy in the silent and stealth department compared to the other thieves. He was a Purple Bruce named Pompey, and in a fatal mission he had, in order for them to escape, consumed about 50 Neggs and had only just made it out alive himself.

'Madam Cora!' hissed on of the thieves: Theia the Fire Aisha with her sparkling red eyes glowing like rubies in the dark. 'We've de-activated the locks!'

'Excellent,' said the Ixi, snapping back into her senses. 'Quickly, Theia, grab the Tear and let's bolt!'

'Ma'am,' said Eni the Electric Mynci from the other side of the cabinet. 'There appears to be something beyond the back door... it sounds almost like a pair of guard Gelerts!'

Cora sighed to herself as she watched her thieves work. Guard Gelerts were easy to fool, but had an excellent sense of smell. They could outrun everyone on her team put together, and there's always a thief that goes awry once they had to deal with Guard Gelerts.

'Head Cora!' An Orange Jubjub named Ourila called from the top of the cabinet, inspecting their escape route. 'The air vent is about to close from the wind! Hurry!'

'Oh, can't you just grab it?' snapped Cora, now growing rather aggravated.

'We can't!' The Striped Lupe named Cain snapped back, trying to yank the Tear off its pole by the thread. 'I don't think it wants to come with us! It can feel that we're trying to steal it!'

'Oh, let ME try!' called a slow, blundering voice: Pompey the Bruce had waddled up to the Tear and put a large fin on the precious gemstone.

'Pompey, ino/i!' Cora, Cain, and Theia all yelled at the same time, but it was too late. A large tycoon of snow had drifted in from the air vent and surrounded the center cabinet; the rest of the thieves, Ourila having gotten out of the way, could only watch as all seventeen alarms were set off at the same time, including the Guard Gelert ring.

'Um, Cora? ' said Eni the security thief rather reluctantly. 'We've got a problem...'

The team didn't even have to look around at the back door to know where the growling sounds came from. As the twister of snow disappeared back up the air vent with both the Thyora's Tear and Pompey gone, Cora quickly ordered her group, 'Fly! Eni, Cain, Theia, Ourila, quickly! Don't try to see if Pompey is still here!'

They didn't need telling twice; Ourila used her large feet to climb up the air vent and put up more shields around the opening on the roof. The entire group, in twos, then followed her, with Cora going last with Eni just as the Guard Gelerts had leapt up to pounce on the Ixi.

'But we have to find Pompey! We just have to!'

They were back in the Thieves of Terror Headquarters, hidden within the icy depths of the Ice Caves. The five remaining members of the thieving Team Alpha were huddled on the hearth rug around the fireplace of their meeting room, the large stone table left abandoned. Ourila the escape artist leaned against the icy wall, fixing one of the ropes that had been snapped on their quick getaway. She was setting beside Eni, the former security guard of the headquarters and most recent addition to the team, who was trying to make security alarms using cans and strings for his security class with Team Lambda later. Cora was watching the fire impassively with her paws behind her back, listening to the repetitive complaints of Pompey's two closest friends Theia and Cain.

'There isn't anything we can do,' Cora said, shaking her head sadly. 'We're miles away from the Island, and you heard what that Island Aisha told us: the Mountain is off the coast of Krawk Island, and there are no other teams to replace us during this busy season; the Month of Giving is drawing closer by the minute and there are many preparations that must be followed first before we can leave Terror Mountain. Even Team Delta, Team Iota, and Team Mu had to be called back; all hands must be on deck this year!'

'Oh, fine then,' said Theia, crossing her arms and allowing tears to slowly fall from her face. Cain picked up a broken lock from the ground and gave it to her, which she picked instantly, throwing it into a large pile with other locks that she had broken that same day. 'If you're not going to let us go on a search mission, can you give Cain and I both something to do, like a solo mission?'

Cain buried his face in his paws; Cora never took requests for missions; she igave/i them whether or not you were one second away from fainting or one second away from winning your Kacheekers match. Her face would twist into the resentful look which she always wore when dealing with missions, and she would leer so startlingly that the thief HAD to be obey her.

To the contrary, she gained a rare thoughtful look on her face, and she turned around to face the Striped Lupe and the Fire Aisha. 'Actually, there is a mission that you could do...' - Cain and Theia adopted hungry looks on their faces as they eagerly observed their leader - '...there has been a rumor going around that a large shipment of Fire and Ice Slushies have accidentally landed near the Ice Rink at the foot of the passage to the top of the mountain; I would like you two to slide down to the outskirts of Happy Valley on a sled and see if you can collect any before they are brought to the Slushie shop.'

'Consider it done!' said the two thieves eagerly, and hurriedly, they put a layer of red silk robes around their outfits so that they fit in with the citizens of Happy Valley much more than they would've in navy blue, grabbed their thick black cloaks, and rushed off to Team Tau for a sled for their transportation.

'Do you think they'll make it?' asked Ourila from the corner, the rope finally mended.

'No,' said Cora, smiling slightly. 'But I'm sure this will give them some time to cool off after Pompey's disappearance. I'm sure that they're not going to find anything on this Mountain!

'Theia, I'm bfreezing/b!'

'Oh, stop your whining Cain, this is fun!'

They were sliding down Terror Mountain on a gigantic toboggan, their accessories threatening to fall off as they steadily gained speed, their cloaks whipping behind them like a banner. The materials packed in the under-curve of the sled were in danger of coming loose at any moment, which meant they would go hungry as they ascended the mountain, even if they did find the slushies.

'Maybe for you; you're a Fire Aisha!' said Cain, grabbing the hems of his cloak and wrapping it around himself so that it looked like he was inside a rather strange cocoon.

'Oh, lighten up,' said Theia, starting to laugh a little. 'I'm going to grab a snack; guide the sled, would you?'

As she bent down to get some Chia Pops from their food supply, Cain let go of his cloak and placed his hands on the front of the sled, narrowly swerving around a tree. Sled-guiding was not one of his strong points compared to breaking and entering.

'Oh Selkets; my cloak!' He exclaimed as the string-attachment threatened to become undone. Forgetting about what he was doing, he tied it back, fumbling in the cold, which meant that nobody was holding on to the sled. Almost immediately, the Aisha and the Lupe fell over, in danger of sliding off the sled itself.

'CAIN! YOU STUPID LUPE! LOOK WHAT YOU DID!'

'Well Theia, YOU'RE the one that wanted the stupid Chia Pop in the first place!'

'Well, if you had grabbed another padding of silk like I told you to do, you wouldn't have to pull up your cloak all the time, but ino/i, you just wanted your stripes to be just a little more visible!'

'Well, at least -'

And so, their argument continued, each pet not paying attention to where the sled was going. It was only when they crashed into a tree and ended up sliding down the Mountain spinning in perfect circles when Cain noticed that something was offbeat.

'Theia - THEIA! LOOK!'

He raised a slow paw in the direction that they were going, where there was an extremely large ledge that there was no escape from; to the left and the right there were sharp rocks and icicles. They couldn't even jump off, because they would just roll down over the edge again anyways.

'Oh, Cain, quit your dumb whining! The jump is probably only 16 feet any-'

The Fire Aisha stopped in mid-sentence as their sled went straight over the ledge. Looking down, they discovered that Theia was as right as she was wrong: the crevasse was not 16 feet, but more like 16 kilometers.

'Chia pop?' she asked rather meekly, holding out a Lime one. Cain didn't have any time to respond, however, as they fell into the darkness of the chasm, with Cain yelling, 'bTHEIA/b'...

Amidst many mosaics of rock on the walls, the two thieves began to stir after a couple of hours of lying on the cold, stone cave floor.

'Ugh... where are we?' Theia asked Cain, who was also beginning to stir.

'Me no know...' Cain said, looking rather disorientated. Swaying slightly, he stood up, leaning against the walls.

'I think we fell in through the snow... there must be an opening around here!'

The Fire Aisha squinted towards the ceiling; there was a dim light shining down from where they were lying. Sure enough, they had definitely fallen through the snow, and their sled seemed to have ripped open an opening in the rock before blocking it completely. Even if they did have Ourila and her magic rope which she 'borrowed' from Hannah, they wouldn't be able to get out. Luckily, all of their most important supplies had fallen into the cave with them, so they still had her Cobrall Dagger amongst other belongings, though no food had survived the fall.

'Your Staff of Nova!' Theia exclaimed, picking it up and giving it back to Cain. He nodded rather sheepishly, and wouldn't do anything until the Aisha bonked him in the head with it, which seemed to make him snap back to his senses.

They carefully observed their other belongings. Theia managed to uncover her Circlet of the Air Faerie, which would bring them a supply of fresh air and a source of light, while Cain uncovered a Striped Evil Fuzzle. Everything else, including food and other necessitates, lay smashed on the ground.

'Well, we might as well go,' suggested Cain, lighting his Wand of Nova. They could now see what was on the walls: mysterious mosaics made out of multi-coloured gemstones.

'Cain, wait!' Theia said, rushing up the mosaics on the walls and inspecting them. She loved artwork and always hoped to have her work displayed in the Art Gallery one day once her thieving days were over. She looked at them for a split second before gasping, running into Cain.

'What is it?' Cain rushed over to his partner's side.

The Aisha could only point towards the mosaic and say, in a watery voice, 'That - that Miyoka girl, that Acara, she was telling the truth about the Tear...'

'What - OH!' Cain remembered how they had found an Acara at their doorstep many weeks ago, who was now in Training Group Nu, telling them about a mysterious dream she had where a Thyora's Tear had captured her friend and an entire island around the general vicinity of Krawk Island, and how she had freed everything by throwing the gem out on to the sea, back on to Mystery Island. She then saw the same gem in the Jewelry Shop when looking for medicine for her ill friend Liyon. Her back ached extremely because of the cold, so she had to remain hunched over in her purple robe as she carefully inspected the cabinet, rather in horror than in enchantment. The jeweler than came over to her and she haggled with him, trying to save the Tear, but she was rejected and thrown out. This information was what led the thieves to try and poach the Thyora's Tear in the first place, even with all of Miyoka's warnings.

And now, in a strange cavern deep within Terror Mountain, there were mosaics on the walls that proved that the story was true. Theia and Cain moved down the hallway with the Circlet and the Staff, inspecting each piece of artwork like a storybook. They was even saw one with a carved stone Maraquan Aisha, with a replica of the jewel around her neck.

'If - if the story is true...' Cain began slowly. 'Then... then...'

'...then the same must apply for Pompey!' Theia shouted, excited. 'Come on, Cain, what are we waiting for?'

She grabbed her partner by the paw and started dragging him down the cave, which were lined with more mosaics of how an Acara traveled into a shallow pool and into a strange mountain. Finally, at the end of the hallway, the mosaics strangely ended with two Acaras on Mystery Island, one playing the flute, and the other singing.

There, in the very heart of the room at the end of the hall, they could see the statue of a chubby Bruce, its arms flailing above it as if it were about to fly. Around it there were little pieces of snow, twinkling like pearls and diamonds. Around its neck was a stone that was surely -

'Theia - no!' Cain warned, grabbing his partner and pulling her back, for she had showed every sign of wanting to touch the Thyora's Tear. 'Remember what happened in the mosaics?'

The Aisha snapped back to her senses, looking at the little flecks of snow on the ground. 'Yeah, I suppose that whatever touches it will free the last person who touched it, but the thing will disappear... poor -'

But Cain quickly interrupted her. 'Repeat that again, Theia!'

'Whatever it touches will disappear?' Theia said, confused. 'Cain, I don't see where you're going with -'

'Exactly!' said Cain, scooping up some of the snow. 'What touches it will disappear!'

And with that, he threw the pieces of snow on to the tear, and quickly jumped back.

'Cain! What did you -'

However, Theia was interrupted once again as a violent snow-storm, originating from the flecks of snow on the ground, swept away everything that was touching the Tear. There was a violent flash of light, and then everything was calm again in the cavern.

Where the statue of the Bruce was, there was now Pompey, holding the precious gem in his hand and looking rather confused. The wall behind him had completely crumbled into dust, and a gigantic chasm was revealed with no other side.

'POMPEY!' Theia said, and quickly ran over and hugged him tightly.

'Th - Theia!' Pompey said, disdainful. 'What - what happened? Where's the team? Did we get the T-?'

He looked down at his fin, and a mixture of astonishment and understanding dawned on his face. He rubbed his fin along the shiny surface of the gem in amazement, and a strange light came over his eyes. However, nobody noticed as Cain gave a sudden shout, and Theia screamed

The gems on the mosaics had suddenly jumped out from their frames and each kind of colour grouped together, so they were now facing ruby, emerald, sapphire, topaz, opal, and diamond skeletal figures, all of them whispering, 'Give us the gem...'

'You know, this brings a whole new meaning to the term 'Gem Thieves', ' joked Cain, as the monsters grouped them in a tight circle near the edge of the chasm.

'Quick, do what the story says!' said Theia, who had gone hysterical with fright despite being a thief. 'Throw the gem over the cliff, Pompey! Destroy it!'

'No.'

'What?'

'I said no!' Pompey held the gemstone close to him, a fierce green fire dancing in his eyes. 'It's mine!

'P - Pompey...' said Cain, now on the very edge of the cliff. 'You know we're about to - about to be - be -'

'Yes, I very well do know!' said the Bruce, kicking away one of the monsters due to his commitment of keeping the Tear. 'And I don't care!'

'Pompey - give that stone to me!' Cain demanded.

'No!'

'Don't be silly - give it to me!'

'Yes, give it to him!' Theia said, joining Cain's campaign. The monsters were nearly upon them.

'No - NO!' Pompey kicked away three other monsters with surprising agility. 'It's mine - mine! And I'm not going to destroy it just for -'

'- Your bLIFE/b?' Cain demanded, but before he could say anything else, one of the monsters tripped Pompey. He fell over the edge face-first, letting go of the Tear. Immediately, the green flames in his eyes burned out as the Tear fell into the depths of the chasm, but the Purple Bruce only fell on to an extremely soft camper's bed in the Thieves of Terror Headquarters, the Ice Caves.

'Pompey!' Theia yelled in alarm. They were in Team Alpha's sleeping quarters, and his two friends Theia and Cain were looking at him with fright. 'You were twisting all over in your sleep, and then you turned completely still like a rock, and then you fell off the top bunk on to Eni's bunk!'

'Wh – what?' inquired Pompey, stretching luxuriously and yawning. 'I had the most str- strangest dream…'

'Was I in it?' Cain grinned, laughing.

However, Pompey screwed up his face in concentration. 'Actually… yes!'

'Oh, you silly Bruce,' said the Lupe, now standing up and fastening his cloak on. 'I was just joking around with you! Come on, we have a mission in half an hour, and you know how Cora gets when we're late…'

'That's it; a good, hard theft is the thing to wake me up… where are we going?'

'Oh, to some jewelry shop,' Theia said, fastening the Circlet of the Air Faerie into her long, shaggy red hair, which she quickly brushed.

Pompey suddenly stopped putting on his second layer of navy silk, looking up at Theia in horror. Slowly, as Cain left the room, he asked, 'What are we stealing?'

'A Thyora's Tear' said Theia, and not noticing the look of extreme fright that had grown on her Bruce friend's face, she left the room.

Pompey, however, dived back on to his bed on hid his face under the covers, not responding to the people calling his name from the meeting room.


	4. The Silver Quill

Keinal stopped and looked up towards the scary, dark windows of the manor. It was a completely murky, green colour and looked as if it had not been cleaned in years - perhaps ever since she and her owner could buy a Christmas Paint Brush for only 3,000 NP off the 'friendly' Shop Wizard.

"Are you sure that's where they threw my Blue Bouncy Ball?" she asked the scary band of rather frightening and buff group of Skeiths. They had a shady, crime-like look on their faces and were grinning rather menacingly.

"Of course, little Gnorbu!" said their leader as some of the Skeiths chuckled a bit. "Would we ever lie to you?"

"Well, I dunno..."

"Come on, just go inside!"

"Oh fine, I will, I will..."

Keinal didn't normally fall for tricks like this, but her owner was poor. They couldn't afford to lose a whole Bouncy Ball.

"Well then, go inside!" the Skeiths said, one by one. Quickly and silently, while the Gnorbu was going up the path, they slowly snuck away giggling evilly to themselves.

Keinal hadn't always been a Gnorbu. In fact, she used to be just a plain Blue Kacheek, as normal as any other 2,198-day Neopet might be. She had aged many petpets and still remembered a time long ago before avatars and the way to remove siggy lines, but yet she and her owner had still not grown out of their newbie years. Owner and Keinal: that's how their Neofriends referred to them, for Owner had never given anybody her actual name or shown anybody her real appearance. She always stayed in a tattered, grey robe, cloak and hood, never wearing anything else. In fact, Owner hadn't even washed it since the Tyrannian War, where she rode to battle in a royal, magnificent white colour on Keinal. They had achieved many war points for fighting off the invaders, but Owner had taken a blow at the waist. Her money bag had riched, and most of her Neopoints spilled on to the battlefield. Or, this is what she told Keinal.

Owner never really could stockmarket her way up to ultimate riches again, and as a result Keinal lacked the protein food that made her strong. She began to grow thinner until she was left purging the streets of Neopia Central of recycled Neocola cans and dropped food, seeing if she could just once feel the way any Neopet would feel if they were bloated...

Until one day everything changed. Owner had taken her fishing, and after a few months of fishing every single day Keinal finally fished up a strange, swirly potion. Excited at her luck, she drank it while Owner was reading a guide to the Stockmarket. Little did she know that she had drunk Owner's fortune-to-be, and even less did she know that she was going to turn into a Gnorbu...

That same Gnorbu was slowly trudging up the hill to the Long Manor, a Manor owned by a highly successful foreign owner named Mr. Long. He and his four pets, all of them eloquently painted, had lived in the Manor in the middle of Tyrannia for quite some time, looking like a piece of civilization amongst the under-educated Tyrannians. However, he had mysteriously vanished during the night, leaving only one message to his pets which nobody in the area knew how to read.

They had not been seen since. Amongst the Volcano-village Neopets these days, the Manor was considered to be haunted. Nobody knew what had happened there. Nobody knew what happened to Mr. Long.

Keinal finally reached the great, marble double-doors which led into the mansion. Pillagers had come and, chunk by chunk, they had slowly chiseled away the doors so Keinal only had to jump over a small stump of marble to get inside.

The interior of the manor was covered in a very thick layer of dust. The only things that the Gnorbu could make out were the paintings, for they had been glued to the wall using some sort of dust-absorbent glue. As Kenail went down the hall, they seemed to tell the story of the Tyrannian War; scenes which were familiar to the old Neopet. The monsters were depicted well, looking as if they could almost jump out of the frames themselves.

Though most modern Neopets might be afraid while going down the mansion, Kenail was not. In fact, she was downright bored. She guessed that it was just because of the fact that she had already seen and lived all the scenes before, except for one of them.

At the very end of the hallway, there was her Blue Bouncy Ball. She went to retrieve it, but a dusty painting on the wall above her distracted the Gnorbu in mid-run.

There was a painting which she had never seen before, even in real life. It showed something which she could not see clearly, though she would bet her Bouncy Ball that it looked like a table with some parchment on it. In the middle of the painting there was a silver light, and where the light shined upon everything was completely colourless. The only thing that stood out that had anything to do with the silver light was a quill, completely silver and completely real-looking.

And it was real. It was actually, actually real.

Completely forgetting about the Blue Bouncy Ball, she reached in the painting, took the Silver Quill, and dashed out of the Manor.

"A Silver Quill, Keinal? Is that right?'"

"Yep, it sure is!"

She had run straight out of the Manor, down the street, and found the Skeiths laughing madly at a recent deal they had made when they poached a Keno egg and left one of Lola the Baker's Baby Pteris as replacement. The Gnorbu had whipped out the Silver Quill and showed the bullies what she had found when they threw her ball into the haunted building.

"And what does it do?" demanded the Head Skeith, whose name was only HS since nobody ever dared ask him what it might be.

"Well..." Keinal mumbled to herself a bit after saying 'Well'. She didn't exactly know WHAT it did; all she knew was that it was silver and very, very old.

Yes, it looked very old indeed. It resembled the Neopian Times trophies she had seen within various user's trophy cabinets, except for the fact that of course it was silver. It seemed to have some sort of an aura to it; an aura of inspiration and myth; an aura of creation.

"Haha, look guys, she doesn't even know what it does!" HS laughed, with all his group members following suite (rather reluctantly, it seemed).

"I do so know!" declared Keinal, though she actually had no idea at all. "It can... it can... watch this!"

And with all of her Gnorbu might, she threw it at the nearest rock structure with all of her might. Keinal didn't think she'd be able to throw it very powerfully, but she actually ended up doing so. The Quill flew through the air and hit the rock so hard that it cracked in two. Inside was a large amount of shining, sparkling ancient diamonds.

"Ohoho! Very nice!" said the group members, but HS looked afraid.

"Don't move too close! It might be boobytrapped!"

His other group members snorted. "As if, HS!" they chuckled before rushing towards the stone.

Suddenly, the Silver Quill, the point of which was still in the rock, began to glow as if a sudden sunlight had emerged from the smokey clouds. It got brighter and brighter as the Skeiths moved closer and closer, and with a loud popping noise the light got so bright that HS and Keinal had to put their paws over their eyes. When the light finally faded and the Gnorbu managed to blink all the strange dots of her eyes, she looked at the scene. The rock with the diamonds inside had gone, and the Silver Quill was once again beneath her hoof. The only thing that seemed drastically different was that the Skeiths of the Skeith gang had turned completely to diamond.

Both Neopets were breathless as they looked at the diamond sculptures of the Skeiths. Their faces contradicted with the actions of their bodies. Their figures appeared to be shocked and looked as if they were trying to make a fast getaway before they were turned to diamond. However, their faces looked calm, as if they had just exchanged another Grarrl Keno egg.

"What just happened?" stuttered HS, still too shocked to move. "What just happened!"

His last statement was more forceful, and the large Skeith sounded extremely angry. Keinal tried to imagine what would happen to her next after HS's minions had all been turned to diamond.

It wasn't the best thing to imagine. She quietly tried to creep away, but tripped over a small pebble on the street. Stumbling, she fell right over on her back, and couldn't get up again. The large Skeith, silhouetted against the young Tyranninan sun, slowly turned around with a large snarl. Smoke billowed out of his nose as he gave a wild roar so loud that the noses of the Diamond Skeiths cracked and fell off. He slowly crouched and leapt at the struggling Gnorbu, who was mesmerized by HS's actions and unable to get up.

When he was in mid-jump, Keinal's senses returned to her. "Help!" she screamed, but no people ever came so close to the Long Manor anymore. Therefore, nobody heard her. She waved and wiggled her hoof desperately, trying to find some kind of a way out, but the Skeith was nearly upon her.

She basically forgot about the Silver Quill, still clutched in her hoof. When Keinal was screaming desperate for somebody to aid her, she never actually noticed that the Quill was beginning to glow and that she was randomly 'drawing' health crosses in the air. These crosses all became solid and three-dimensional without either pet noticing, and quickly they began to stack together into some sort of a wall in front of the Gnorbu.

It was with a loud THUMP that Keinal finally stopped struggling and looked up from the ground. A gigantic wall that somewhat resembled a Destruct-o-Match game had appeared right in front of her. It appeared that HS had ran right into it and was then knocked out, never noticing the strange wall since it had been transparent (it was now green) and couldn't think clearly through his rage.

Keinal looked at the strange Quill in her hoof. Both times, she needed some sort of a distraction or protection method, and both times the Quill had granted it to her. What if - what if it was a magic quill? thought the Gnorbu as she swung up on to her feet once more. What if it granted the desires of anybody who held it? Still looking at the Quill, Keinal began to walk home without looking up.

Long Manor was built on a, rocky hill on the outskirts of Volcano Village. It was basically at the very base of the Tyrannian Volcano, and was in the greatest danger of being wiped out by the Lava River, which flowed in a ring like a moat right around the hill. There was bridge made of Volcano Rocks from Mystery Island that led to the village. Keinal and the Skeiths had been right at the base of the river, next to the bridge. The village was about a kilometer away from the Manor. Keinal walked along the rocky gravel path to the village right now, and was so entranced by the Silver Quill she didn't even notice that the gravel trail began to move by itself.

"Ugh, why is it so bumpy all of a sudden?" Keinal asked the Quill, though it didn't respond at all. She looked down at the ground to see if perhaps there was a gravel spill from Old Granville's gravel farm when she noticed that the ground itself was moving. The only time she had ever seen such a circumstance was at the Virtupets Space Station when she had visited it years and years ago on holiday.

Long-awaited inertia suddenly made the Gnorbu fall over flat on her face. Holding on to the Quill, she looked up to see what was causing the gravel flow when she noticed that a single, sleeping Niptor, with its jaws open in a devastating way, was on a small, grassy, non-gravel part of the path. Though it was small, Keinal had enough experience with said petpet that she knew that the Quill was taking revenge on her since she had used it to grant one of her wishes. It made sense to her, since when the Skeiths had tried to take the diamond rock out of greed the Quill's power made them supernaturally turn into diamond.

Keinal thought it best not to use the Quill again to get her out of this situation, since she didn't know what kind of horror she would be in for if she used its magic to survive this situation. Instead, she flopped her belly like a fish and as a result her front legs ended up in front of her. This meant that her hooves, which had copper horseshoes on them, acted like a shield that jutted out from her head. The Gnorbu closed her eyes and waited for impact.

Sure enough, with a loud clanging noise her horseshoes hit the teeth of the snoozing Niptor. It dented the copper horseshoes, but Keinal herself wasn't harmed at all. Upon contact, the snoozing Niptor woke up and then sped away off the lane with loud, short screeching noises. The lane itself had stopped moving, and now that the Niptor was gone and Keinal was on her feet once more, she could see that she was only a few yards away from Granny Kacheek-McGee's Volcanic Potato House. Overjoyed and extremely tired, she cantered in.

Owner and Keinal's house was right at the very edge of the other side of the village. It was basically a shack-like Neohome that had once been McGee's secondary potato farm. This was the only place that Owner could afford; it was either that or living in the jungle of Mystery Island or the very heart of the Haunted Woods.

Keinal entered her house through a drape, since they couldn't afford a door. Their home had only two rooms: a room for eating and another room for living. The room for living, or the living room, was an utter mess, as usual. Owner was, surprisingly, sitting on a threadbare, purple armchair and had her eyes closed. She was mumbling random letters and numbers to herself. Her pet knew the reason why: Owner had been to the stockmarket again. Everytime the family managed to earn a few thousand Neopoints from the games, it disappeared almost instantly at the stockmarket. Owner just didn't have any luck or strategy towards the establishment whatsoever.

The Gnorbu thought that it was best if she spoke quieter. "Owner?"

"Mmhmm?" she responded rather absentmindedly.

"Look – look what I found…"

She held out her hoof with the Silver Quill towards the armchair rather nervously. Owner, quick as a flash, snatched it and inspected every single inch of it with widened, bloodshot eyes.

For a few moments, neither owner nor Neopet spoke. Finally, Owner asked her Gnorbu, "Where did you get this?"

"Long Manor… it was just sitting at the base of a painting –"

"Are you sure that it wasn't actually sitting INSIDE the painting?" Owner interrupted adruptly.

"What? Well…" Now that Keinal thought about it, it did seem rather shiny, as if it were some sort of an oil drawing, before she had pulled it out of the house. "…I guess?"

"Return this immediately! Don't ask questions, and don't come home till you do!" Owner seemed frantic, and had immediately turned red. "This thing is evil; anything that comes out of there is evil!"

"But – but!"

"No! I need you to put it back exactly where you found it right now!" Owner gave Keinal an extremely evil but worried look.

"Fine, oh fine…" said the Gnorbu. "I'll take the stinking thing back!"

"Good, good…" Owner returned to her seat and lost herself in her thoughts once more.

Long Manor was just up ahead; after the mysterious gravel slide the hill was now easier to climb. The strange diamond figures of the Skeiths had moved by themselves: two of them 'guarding' one side of the bridge, two guarding the other, and a final two guarding the doors of the Manor. The rock with the diamonds and the green wall made from health crosses had disappeared. As for HS, he was still slumped at the side of road, knocked out.

Keinal reached the double-doors of the Long Manor once more. She pushed open the door once more and entered. Light flittered in from holes on the ceiling, which guided her down the long hallway. Dust covered every single inch Keinal could see, and spyder webs were so common it was as if they could multiply by themselves. The paintings were as menacing as ever.

"Why do I have to put this back, anyway?" Keinal asked the painting at the very end of the hall from where she first found the Silver Quill. Her voice echoed once in the hall before completely disappearing as she reached out to put it back. However, she was distracted by something that moved inside the painting.

"Hello?" she asked it, but nothing happened. She shrugged to herself; the cobwebs and the dust in the filtered sunlight must've affected her vision. Keinal was about to put it back in the painting when all of a sudden a voice spoke to her from inside it.

"Arr har har!" said a voice. The Gnorbu leapt three feet in the air before finally landing some meters back from the painting. A large cloud of dust flew up in the air in front of it, dilating the light rays so that they all shined down upon that one painting. In the still-dull light, Keinal could make out a thin portrait of a man with a large silver mustache, monocule, and a gigantic black top hat. Surrounding him were the figures of four elegant Neopets, which acted like a border around what was assumingly their owner.

Since the voice had a heavy accent and the painting was in the Manor, Keinal could only think of one person who the painting must portray. "Are - are you Mr. Long?"

"Why, yes I am!" the voice boomed once more. "And – Keinal, is it? – I think you have my Quill?"

"How do you know my – your Quill?"

"Yes, my Quill! Look down at the bottom of my painting!"

The Gnorbu looked. Mr. Long was actually sitting down at a desk, and a letter was open right in front of him. She couldn't read much of it since it was in another strange language, but she recognized it as the only legacy of Mr. Long after he had disappeared from his Manor: the note he had left his pets. However, she soon saw what Mr. Long was trying to indicate: his hand was in a form in which it looked like he was writing with some sort of a Quill. And that Quill was in her hoof.

"Oh… oh that Quill! Would you like it back?" Keinal was extremely frightened and moved towards the painting, intending to put it back in his hand, when all of a sudden a pillar of dust stopped her.

"Goodness, no! Don't you know what the Quill does?" Mr. Long boomed as the pillar of dust fell back to the ground.

"N – no…" Keinal stuttered. She already knew that she was probably about to finally found out the story of the Silver Quill.

"Well, well, where to start… a few centuries ago, an extremely powerful Light Faerie created three items of extreme enchantment, magic, and worth: a Thyora's Tear, made from one of her own tears which could captivate the hearts of any, a Fire and Ice Slushie, made from the blessings of a Fire faerie and the Negg Faerie respectively which was a thief's greatest desire, and this: a Silver Quill, made silver from the last light of the Star of Wishing which can grant any wish.

"The Light Faerie's items were the talk of all Neopia Central, but she had put too much magic into them. When she attempted to make a fourth item of extreme magic, she ended up running out of power and became a Grey Faerie. The Faerie, clutching the Tear, Slushie, and Quill, went to Fyora to seek power. Fyora, extremely angered that the Faerie had abused her power, exiled her to a dark cavern in the Underclouds of Faerieland. With the items, she cast them away on to Neopia, for if they were kept together in any other place then their combined powers would re-power the Grey Faerie and make her a Light Faerie. She didn't want the Light Faerie to make whatever fourth item she was going to make, fearing that all of Faerieland and Neopia might be at risk.

"With the items, common people found them. I believe the Tear found its way to a strange island off the coast of Mystery Island and then in a deep chasm-society in the depths of Terror Mountain, the Fire and Ice Slushie was hid amongst other Fire and Ice Slushies, the shipment of which was lost near the base of Terror Mountain, and the Quill fell in Tyrannia. It is the very same Quill which you possess right now."

"But why does the Quill bring misfortune to anybody who uses it to make a wish?" asked Keinal, trying her hardest to quickly digest all the information.

"When the Light Faerie fell, the items began to malfunction. The Thyora's Tear became the lust of all mortals and began to capture those whose hearts were filled with greed; the Fire and Ice Slushie blinded any who looked at it in direct light, and the Quill… well, I think you can see what the Quill does."

Mr. Long looked around his manor sadly. "When I drew my entire Manor from scratch, a swarm of lava-flies from the Volcano came and wrecked the entire place. All my memories of Neopia were placed in paintings made by the Quill, and the Silver Quill itself joined me in this painting. Perhaps it is to taunt me; perhaps it is to captivate anybody else who might come across this house; I do not know. I do know that it is now pure evil and must be destroyed before it can be re-united with the Slushie and the Tear."

"But how? And who?" Keinal asked, though she already knew the answer to her second question.

"You, of course!" Mr. Long declared, patting his other hand against the desk. "If you tear my painting off the wall, which disables me from ever talking to you again till you place the painting back on the exact same location on the wall, you'll find a secret shelf with a small shard of the Tear and the empty Slushie cup. My pets have gone to great peril to collect these items, though they couldn't carry the exact items, for me. They themselves disappeared shortly after depositing them at my manor in front of my portrait. The only way you can destroy the Quill is to destroy the other three items also. They are too magical to ever disappear, but you can disintegrate them so that the power in the neurons of each molecule of the items can't ever be re-united to give the item their full magical functions. And of course, there's only one place in the area that's hot enough to melt such items…"

Mr. Long sneezed, and a large portion of dust fell from an extremely grimy window next to the portrait. It looked out to the Volcano, which was emitting generous amounts of lava at the moment.

"The Tyrannian Volcano is one of the five Neopian locations with enough external heat to destroy items. You must ride down Lava Falls using the boat that is tied to the back of my painting and get to the very center the Volcano by riding to the birth of the Lava River."

"But…won't that be hot?"

"Do not worry; the boat is blessed by the power of water and light. Those who sit in it will remain cool in all situations. Now go! Open my painting like you would a door."

"Oh… okay!... here I go…"

With great Gnorbu force, Keinal tore the painting off the wall. Dust fell in layers, but she didn't care. She ran forwards, and found that it was actually like a dock made from lava rock which jutted straight out from the hill. Sure enough, there was a shelf attached to the small hallway of rock which lead to the dock containing a single, sky-blue almost transparent shard which shined by itself in the semi-darkness and a cup with a magical L written on it with some sort of glowing rainbow ink as opposed to the red N that is usually written on slushies.

The Gnorbu snatched the cup, stuffed the shard and the quill inside, and secured it tightly. Keinal then looked for the boat, and saw it: a wooden canoe which was a medium-length jump out in the lava. A metal chain attached it to a small pole on the side of the top of Lava Falls, which bubbled down the hill with barely a sound. The Gnorbu felt her very fur stand up on end from the extreme heat, but it wasn't too hot for her to overheat or anything horrid like that.

She stuffed the Slushie Cup in her mouth and then prepared to jump, but in mid-preparation it slid out from her teeth and fell in the lava as she leapt right into the boat. It shook a bit: not enough to flip the boat and the Gnorbu over but enough to loosen the metal chain. The metal chain came right off the boat and the end which was attached to the boat fell into the lava, melting instantly. The force of the Falls, which the Slushie with the magical items had now fallen over, caused the boat to start moving by itself, and Keinal screamed as she went over the edge of the hill. The boat had some sort of heat-resistant metal razor at the bottom which caused it to skirt over the lava as if she were water skiing.

When she finally reached the base of the waterfall, she saw the Slushie cup with the Quill and shard of the Tear float into a cavern. Keinal, desperate to get them back before something else (like a lava-fly) in the Volcano could snatch them, quickly searched the boat for some sort of a paddle. She found two: large, wooden things which were surrounded by an earthen yet fiery glow.

Cautiously, the Gnorbu dipped them in the river and pulled them out, expecting them to be completely burnt. However, they were not. These must be made of the same material as the boat: light-weight and unable to burn in lava. As quickly as she could, Keinal paddled towards the cave and entered the darkness.

Lava bubbles were bursting from the walls, and the strange, slow flowing noise the lava made was everywhere. In her mind's eye, she could imagine lava simply seeping out of the walls from the magma chamber, wherever it may be in the volcano.

After a few minutes she saw a light ahead, and hastily paddled towards it. She found an island of black volcanic rocks at the base of sunlight which shone down upon the heart of the volcano like a spotlight. Keinal docked the boat against the smoothest part of the rock she could find and ran on to it. Looking up, she could see the sun. That must be the hole of the volcano, she thought to herself. Along the walls of the cavern-like part which led to the hole, lava flowed down smoothly. When it reached the room she was in right now, it flowed off to the side, where there were many small holes which, she thought, must lead to other parts of the volcano. This explained the lava flowing from the walls in the 'entrance' hallway.

Looking around, Keinal saw that lava surrounded the entire island of rock she was now on. She quickly did an inspection of where the Slushie cup had gone, and found it washed up on a smooth, shore-like part on the other side of the rock.

The Gnorbu leapt over a jut of rock perturbing from the exact center of the island and went to the other side. She scooped the cup right out of the lava and poured the Quill, Shard from the Slushie cup before throwing the cup itself into the molten rock.

It sizzled and burned before sinking underneath, only leaving a few dust-like pieces of the items left, floating at the surface of all the lava. Thinking that her task was done, she made to went back to the boat when suddenly the Volcano began to make odd noises, as if it were about to –

"Erupt!" Keinal screamed to herself, desperately looking for a quick way out. "Oh, this is so sudden too…"

The magic of the items must have caused the Volcano to unleash iit's/i own powers! Quickly, Keinal hugged the rock figure that jutted out in the direct center of the island and embraced herself for the eruption.

A great gurgling sound slowly arose from the walls and the magma chamber, and without any warning it made a large belching noise before the stream of lava, which incidentally erupted from underneath the rock, flew up with increasing power before coming right out of the volcano.

The Gnorbu opened her eyes, daring a look around. She could see Long Manor, followed by the village, from that height. Keinal moaned to herself: she knew she was going to get scorched by the searing-hot lava, so she might as well get a final look…

With even less warning, the lava descended and slid down the volcano at a great pace. It was heading towards the village.

"Oh no! Granny McGee and Owner and everybody else – they'll all get burned to death with barely any warning at all!" Keinal thought to herself. She had no idea what to do, except…

The part of the lava with the dust of the Quill, Shard, and Slushie was still right next to her. Concentrating as hard she could on that little area, she thought to herself: 'Let me find a way to prevent the lava from melting the village!'

A great, blinding burst of light came from every single piece of magical dust that was within the lava, and quite suddenly the wave of molten rock rose as high as the sky. It was rushing right past the village and headed to the ocean, burning uninhabited parts of the plateau and the jungle in its path. When it got to the sea, it skidded along it like a tidal wave. Keinal even considered riding the volcanic-rock island like a surfboard when the impact of the lava wave created a gigantic water wave as high as the clouds, though she decided not to when she could see Faerieland from such a height.

The Gnorbu was swept right on to the cloud, and looking around she saw that she was in the throne room of Fyora the Faerie Queen herself. Owner was right beside her.

"Welcome to Faerieland, Keinal the Kacheek!" Fyora said, getting up. "I have a lot to thank you for – you were the one who destroyed some of the most dangerous, yet powerful, items on Neopia…" She walked towards the kneeling Gnorbu and held out a hand. Keinal took it, still mystified, and found out that she was once again a Kacheek.

"Wha – what… I don't get it…"

Owner laughed. "Can you not see? bI/b was the Light Faerie who once had it all… fortune, riches, and even you… but when I became a Grey Faerie, or 'we became poor', I ended up losing everything – except you. You had to live with me in another form until the items were redeemed by someone that was extremely close to me and destroyed."

"Tha – that's great!" said Keinal, though she was still mystified. She began to think back to a time when they were rich and not poor, and suddenly she remembered: her Owner was in fact a Faerie! She just had one more thing to ask her…

"Owner?" asked Keinal, somewhat hesitantly now that her Owner was draped in beautiful, flowing golden robes with long blonde locks of flowing hair.

"Yes, Keinal?"

"What is your real name?"

Owner laughed. "My real name? My real name is Latiniyana."


End file.
